National Archives - Split decision - the dole or the boat
IRISH workers were facing a stark choice between the "dole queue or the emigrant ship", Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave warned at a private meeting to discuss the country's economic crisis.
The meeting convened between all the senior Government ministers and organisations representing industry, agriculture, employers and trade unions on May 2, 1975 was against a background of the oil crisis, a world recession and the loss of protectionist import tariffs following membership of the EEC.
Cosgrave prepared an address in which he held no punches about the gravity of the situation, which saw inflation of 21% and unemployment of 12%.
The best case prediction for 1976 was inflation of 17% but the National Economic and Social Council was predicting wage and salary increases of 26% if no new national pay agreement was reached.
The recession, Cosgrave told the deputation, was "more deep-rooted than had been thought", demand was "depressed", unemployment was rising and inflation was "at a critical point".
"Nobody will establish industry here if he finds that costs are higher than elsewhere.
"Existing industry will not expand. The Government cannot expand employment because the resources to do this are absorbed by the ever increasing cost of maintaining its existing services.
"Goods from other countries, with lower rates of price increase than ours, take over our markets. The other countries themselves become more attractive to new industry and in the tourist and other industries where we must be competitive in services and price.
"The end result is the dole queue or the emigrant ship. I cannot stress this connection enough. The future of our society now depends on our success in getting inflation down."
A memo of the meeting shows Cosgrave was preaching to the converted in some respects. A representative of the Confederation of Irish Industries said he had been to Frankfurt, New York and Chicago, talking to persons considering investment in Ireland, and nobody there had even mentioned Northern Ireland which had previously provided the fear factor for external investors.
Instead "all mentioned our rate of inflation".
Americans were afraid of inflation of 10%, he said.
Some used the meeting to raise their own particular gripes. Employers' representative, Mr Shiel, hit out at equal pay legislation, saying if it would have "serious consequences" for employment.
There was, he said, not point in having a right to equal pay with no job from which to get the pay.
Labour Minister Michael O'Leary pointed out that the legislation was softer than that in Britain.
He warned, however, that the wage drift in the public service was "calamitous" and Finance Minister Richie Ryan warned of "horrific consequences" if the terms of 1974's generous national wage agreements were repeated.
He said he was considering measures including asking workers to forego already agreed pay awards, raising taxes both directly and indirectly, or introducing compulsory savings.
The two-and-a-half hour meeting concluded with agreement that further talks should be held, preferably by a working committee of 10-12 representatives from Government and the various interest groups.
Despite the very frank and grim tone of the meeting, the official account of the discussions for public consumption is a very restrained affair.
The statement released the press is mostly taken up with the list of those who attended, while the content of the talks is summed up in two sentences.
"The meeting reviewed the current economic situation and various ways of protecting employment and living standards.
"The dangers of the current level of inflation were emphasised."
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